Category Archives: Nutrition

My friend, Kate Varsava, Halifax Birthworker, Wombyn’s Summit Leader and Musician prepares for her own birth in the company of her beloved friends, yogis and fellow birthworkers. I was so inspired by her tale of being honoured with care, love and beauty that I asked to share her Instagram post with you.

“Yesterday my house filled up. Yesterday I was filled up.

From my bath, filled with warm water, rose petals, and lavender oil, where I was receiving a massage from the loving maiden hands of my sweet friend‘s daughter, I could hear the joyful chatter of wimyn gathering and organizing themselves. I was adorned with a gorgeous fresh flower crown made by my sister, had my hair fixed up, put on my precious jewels…when I emerged from my room, drawn by singing voices, I found my kitchen full of food, my living room full of flowers and ladies (and baby daddy), and my whole house full of beautiful, buzzing, nurturing energy, beaming faces, radiant beings.

I was passed a cup of Guatemalan cacao, sat on a thrown, and treated like a queen. Tender recollections of how we each met, supportive expressions of a belief in me to enter the role of mother, a showering of love to wash me in confidence and fill my heart beyond measure. A feast of the most nourishing foods, a dance party, gifts of herbs and plants and salves, potions, candles, and sacred objects…it was the most dreamy day I could have imagined.

I feel like the luckiest womyn in the world to have community to hold me so, to have a coven sister to organize everyone (I love you so much marapanacci), to now have a freezer full of meals for my postpartum, fresh flowers in every room, art to decorate my birth room, and a heart so full full full ?? Thank you, thank you, thank you to all you gorgeous wimyn and all you ladies sans IG ??

I truly believe that if all wimyn were treated this way by loving community: held up, made to feel strong, cared for, and trusted through their pregnancies and motherhood (our whole lives actually), the world would change, humanity would change, we would all be better off, healthier, and happier.”

I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions. I don’t even start new protocols on a Monday after I realized years ago that I was setting myself up for failure if starting something new with a bang. My resonance organs dictate a mindfulness in motion that begs me to be accountable to myself each and every day; self-love is a continually evolving gesture of self-honour and self-care.

After sitting for three days a week in clinic I typically feel compelled to go on a mini-pilgrimage, usually this takes form as a good 10-12 km romp into the town or hills where I live… and my step counter will show about 17,000 steps by the end of the day. Jeff and I generally enjoy the same jaunt together on the weekend. During the week, I tend to engage in an hour of something each day; I love swimming, hiking the cobbled streets where we live, taking photographs, and enjoying an hour of yoga twice a week to ensure I’m maintaining upper body strength.

I do not love plank poses, although I do love the way they make me feel when I’m regularly engaged with my practice. A thirty minute daily meditation also is part of my regular regimen. You may ask how I find the time… well, it has taken me twenty years to unhook from a life of obligation and now my health soars, with few supplements, by allowing my spirit to be free of living totally out of obligation. A decade ago, my goal was to craft a life that I no longer felt I needed a vacation from, and this goal has most definitely been achieved!

I will take Vitamin D3 in the winter months only if I’m getting insufficient sunlight, although for the last two years we’ve lived in Mexico in winter, so I don’t bother much with this anymore. If I notice any thyroid challenges, I’ll take kelp and nascent iodine to help on those occasions. I also take zinc periodically, as well as some greens powder (spirulina/chlorella). I drink 2-3 litres of spring water a day which helps to keep me feeling clear, calm, and restored. I’ve always been a very thirsty constitutional type and so drinking a lot, especially in the mornings, really helps to set me right for the remainder of the day.

Mostly I eat quite scantily, fasting a couple days a week for most of the day; as I get into my more “senior” years I find that this approach helps keep my mind and body running optimally. At this high altitude of seven thousand feet above sea level, I sleep hard and soundly given the lower oxygen levels, and seven to eight hours a night without waking is beyond restorative to me. The less I eat, the better I sleep!

Being happy and in love with my partner and my life help a lot. We enjoy great recreation such as attending the orchestra, travelling with friends to a spa or organic farm in the country, or just lying around and reading. Having tea and discussing art, photography, principles or the concepts of Heilkunst enthuse me no end and it’s great that I get to do this with Jeff. I’m also adored, nurtured and well loved on, and kissed thoroughly with intent every day. I wish every human being benefitted from this much loving and fulfillment.

Lastly, I’m rocking what I’m ordained to be. I used to wake with whole poems in my head as a child. I’ve always loved to write and it is a big part of who I am and the vehicle I use to serve others by crafting books in natural medicine and Heilkunst. I’ve also always been profoundly intuitive and so I use these skills to diagnose my patient’s deeper issues, and then use my knowledge and compassion to help them get to where they’d like to go with regard to the resolution of their chronic ills.

Jeff and I both love hearing your monthly impressions as you work through the tangle of your challenges and wins each month. It is a living model of rejuvenation similar to a fever event, when your child speaks for the first time as they shed the Autism diagnosis. You might now be able to imagine what it means when a patient tells us that she has found the love of her life as a result of going through this system of medicine, and that she no longer suffers chronic fatigue because she also let go of that gnarly day job where her creativity was suppressed.

It is our resolution to be healthy enough to continue to support you in the ways that you expect, exacting the healing and curing principles of Heilkunst Medicine to the very best of our abilities. We love serving you and it means so much to us that you keep coming back monthly and also refer your friends and family. Our hearts are filled with purpose and meaning because of you.

Well, we’ve put 19,000 kms in total on our car since June travelling across Canada and down the west coast of the United States and into Mexico. We’re finally settled in the most remarkable city that we’ve ever been to in both Europe or North America. Think ancient Italian port town nestled on a rocky bowl with mind-blowing food and culture for less than a few pesos.

Guanajuato, Mexico is built in a steep teacup that is an ancient caldera of a volcano. It was the seat for the Spanish invasion, and subsequent revolution, due to the wealth of the gold and silver mines documented in the art of Diego Rivera (Frida Kahlo’s husband).

In the week that we’ve been here, we’ve already been to several concerts, with a world class symphony, with performers that hail from Russia, Europe as well as Mexico. Yesterday, I went to a piano recital that blew my socks off, afterwards there was a wine and tapas offering in the spectacular garden with local folks peppered with expats. It cost me $10 Canadian.

I’m learning to muddle through with my broken Spanish, although it is tough being so effusive and so short on vocabulary. I will start my tutoring online next week and hope to volunteer here with local youth who make organic soaps and olive oil so that I can learn more of the colour of this expressive romance language.

Our two room casita, with fibre-op, sits at the very top of the bowl with mountains jutting up on three sides. Any stroll to the the town takes us on a steep incline that makes me often think that I need a climber’s belt, ropes and several carabiners to make it back home.

Our morning hikes take us down cobbled streets through a dam, salted with patos blancos (white ducks), a gorgeous park past several schools and universities for art, political science and engineering. Of course, there are churches with huge iron bells and haciendas dotted in between with old colonial styling and balconies, man how I love a pretty balcony!

Jeff and I will scoot into Café Tal for a Sencha Tea (or the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had) and then we might have a couple of steamed tacos for breakfast from a street vendor. All totalling about $3.50 Cdn. A cab is 50 pesos (about $3.00 with tip) and the bus is 5 pesos (which is so little I can’t calculate it). Our groceries for the week come to about $30 – $40 Cdn at Mercado Hidalgo (built by Ernesto Brunel and Antonio Rivas Mercado with input by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel of Paris’ Eiffel Tower) where we get all our fruits, vegetables and meats.

It’s even cheaper if you walk the streets and locate the native indians, mostly women with babes in arms, who’ve brought their wares to sell down from the ranchos way above the lip of the caldera. One such young fellow, in front of his parent’s vegetable stall, stopped and asked me in broken English where I was from. I responded, “Canada,” gesturing way, way far from here, and he asked me if we speak English there and I said, “Yes, and French too!”

The weather is very cool here at night, dropping down to a nippy 5-8 degrees celsius which is in the mid 40’s on the fahrenheit scale. Like home, we have three blankets on our bed for warmth at night. And boy do we sleep! At 7,000 feet above sea level, we’re having to take the homeopathic remedies, Coca and Cundurango, for a touch of altitude sickness. You’re extra sleepy at night, the oxygen thinner so when hiking back up the 3,500 steps (about 15 flights of stairs … no, we don’t count them … we have an app for that!) from having tea, we need to stop a couple of times to catch our breath. Also, you can have headaches right where you’d have devil’s horns, if you were thusly inclined, on the top of your head and feel at times a little hungover with a stomach bug.

While it takes about six weeks, typically, to stabilize your blood oxygen levels, we’re already feeling amazing in our new locale. We travel like this to fulfill our astral desire function to know new people, culture, art, music and language. It builds the ontic (sense of autonomy/immunity) by holding our essence in check as we’re exposed to many different circumstances and seeming social incongruencies to our more conservative Canadian sensibilities. Also, living in Canada, frankly is just too familiar, and also very pricey now that we’ve just paid off all of the “investments” we made into our education.

We’ll see what the next five months here in Mexico yields. In our opinion, we’d much rather be on this side of any walls to be erected by boisterous (better if I don’t add the other adjectives I’m thinking of) politicians.

“If you’re looking to become a conscious consumer, first consider where your food comes from. Ideally, for our health, and to improve social and environmental impact, we would choose to minimize, or even eliminate highly processed foods from our diet. However, many are at the beginning of their food journey, and so for them I suggest that they at least begin to consider what food companies they are supporting, and take a look into their practices. Nestle is a hot topic right now, and for good reason. If you are feeling drawn to boycotting them for their practices, take a look all of their subcompanies as well. Put into a visual diagram like this, we can really begin to see how food industry controls much of what we eat (if you are eating processed foods). This is why if you want to have choice over what you consume, you need to do your research. Then, spend some time at the farmer’s market and begin talking to your local producers.” ~ Sara Dubeau, DMH, DHHP

Yesterday, we landed in Victoria BC for the month of October. We crossed from Vancouver by ferry (across the Juan de Fuca strait) to this gorgeous rainforest island with tropical trees, rocky beaches and great hiking mountains. I may be in heaven!

After we unpacked at the nicest Airbnb we’ve ever stayed at (think fully stocked kitchen and a hot tub too), with the loveliest of hosts (a Sulphur and Calc. which was like looking in a mirror), we headed out to find the local healthfood store for our week’s nourishment. We traveled about twelve minutes down the Trans-Canada Highway (which we’d taken pretty much from Cape Spear, NFLD all the way to Tofino, BC) to a highly rated healthfood store for our more specific needs.

As an “O” (Jeff) and “B” (Ally) blood types we’re seeking none GMO’d, non-anti-biotic, ethically raised wild game. Jeff found us a health food store that carried lots of Bison! Bison bacon, ground meat, and even jerky for our hikes. We also picked up some organic eggs, some non-grain lamb sausage, more almonds, some more organic tea (it’s getting chilly here this Fall), and chocolate with no added sweetener (and no, it’s not bitter!)

As we engaged with the salesperson, we asked her where we might get our organic vegetables and she suggested Dan’s Farm. So we pulled up our GPS and headed out of town for the 20 minute drive where the Redwoods are wider than both of us with our arms stretched out!

When we arrived, the phenomenal offerings spilled from the front of the store. Fresh, organic produce from Dan’s fields. We filled our basket with 3 types of kale, squashes, purple cabbage, fresh ginger, beets, pickling cucumber, dill, garlic (they had 6 different kinds!), baby greens for salad and a locally raised leg of lamb. We don’t eat any grains of any kind so our grocery bill doesn’t include bread, rice or much of anything found on the inside isles of a grocery store.

When we got home, I was feeling so excited by our finds that I fermented the baby cucumbers in salt brine with garlic, dill and some spices I carry with us. I cut all the kale with scissors into a bowl, tossed the leaves with organic olive oil and Himalayan salt and roasted it for an hour in an oven at 225 degrees, for about 90 minutes.

I also shaved the red cabbage, beet, ginger and garlic, mushed it tightly into mason jars and added salt brine (2 tablespoons per litre) and jammed on the lids. I sit my ferments in a pan with sides knowing that when I burp them of the off-gassing CO2 each morning, they will spit a bit of liquid over the sides. I keep them on a counter, away from the heat of the stove, windows or other ferments like kefir or kombucha as they will cross-infect each other and muck up the process. Similar to other ferments, you wouldn’t put beer in with red wine or champagne either!

While I was finishing up with my probiotic investments, Jeff stuck the sausage in a pan with coconut oil, also cutting thin slices of beets and squash for cooking around the pan, also a bunch of scissored beet greens. Yum! While that cooked, we started with the the baby greens salad with nothing but a hemp oil drizzle and a little organic balsamic vinegar from our stay in Quebec City.

The whole meal was mind-blowing and we have sausage left over for lunch in the morning before we head out for a hike and to stroll downtown Victoria. The lamb roast will be cooked on Monday before we go into busy full days serving patients. I have other ferments of kimchi and salsa that will see us through this week until the new ones are ready in about 7-10 days.

Tell us how you’ve become a conscious consumer and where your food comes from and what you love to make in the way of investments into your health and your family’s well-being. What are your priorities given your own typology? How do you manage this while travelling or visiting new locales? What do you love about your local market and the feeling that fresh, organic food gives you? Like us, you may even find your portions are small given that the food is so nourishing … no need ever for fillers or to resort to chemicalized, GMO’d foods by giant corporations.

Our baby, Seamus is our “opps baby”. The pregnancy was a bit of a surprise since we weren’t trying and both of us are 44. We both have been in treatment with our Heikunstler (and I am a Heilkunstler in training) for over 15 years, eat organic and try to live a healthy lifestyle so getting pregnant easily should have been no surprise since fertility and health go hand in hand.

My pregnancy was routine and uneventful and I did remain active throughout it – down hilled skied until I was 20 weeks, biked until 30 weeks and hiked until 35 weeks, this was on top of taking care of my two other boys (13 and 8 yr olds) and a female Newfoundland puppy. My last baby was born at home, and I planned a home birth for Seamus as well.

I went overdue, a new experience for me as both of my other boys were born at 39 weeks. As I approached 41 weeks with an OP position (posterior) I started taking homeopathic remedies to help turn my baby, along with seeing my acupuncturist and chiropractor. My labour started (literally) with a splash when my water broke all over our family room floor at 10:30 pm on a warm summer night. I called out to Doug but he was putting our youngest to bed and didn’t hear me, so my oldest son, told him my water had broke and I needed some towels. He ran downstairs with our “good” towels which I refused to use and frustrated him since he wasn’t concerned about what towels we used – he did go up and get different towels. He seemed more panicked than I expected and when I asked him what was going on, he replied that the last time my water broke, I had delivered within 15 minutes. Once I explained to him that I had been in active labour for a few hours then, and that this was the start of this labour, he settled down and we both laughed about the misunderstanding.

We put our boys to bed, who wondered if the baby was coming soon and we told them that it could be hours yet. At 11:00pm, I called my midwife and as there was no active labour pattern, she told me to try and get some rest and call her when labour had established itself. Doug and I chilled out in our bedroom – it was a wonderful restful, intimate time as we chatted and relaxed. Contractions started at 11:30pm (it should be noted that we were so relaxed that Doug dozed off while timing the first few contractions. LOL) and by12:30am they were becoming uncomfortable, so I asked my midwife to come and got into my tub to get some relief.

Our midwife and doula arrived at 12:45pm and my contractions were 3 minutes apart and were lasting 1 minute. At this point things went fast, and got blurry as I quickly dilated (my midwife did not do any internal exams – she usually doesn’t do them as she can usually tell how quickly a woman is dilating by observing her). I can remember feeling some fear as my contractions got more intense and asked Doug to write out a paper remedy for aconite which took care of it instantly. My doula and midwife were amazing using comfort methods between contractions such as ice cold cloths on my shoulders, giving me ice and water (at this point I wanted nothing to eat) and lots of encouragement, especially when I hit transition and decided that I didn’t want to have a baby after all. LOL. Doug was a rock star went things got tough for me, helping me in and out of the tub, keeping me reassured when I felt I couldn’t do one more contraction, and letting me squeeze whatever parts of him I had a hold of during contractions. I had assumed a half squat in my tub and it was suggested that I move around more but after changing positions, I quickly realized that I had naturally assumed the best position for me and quickly went back to it and stayed in that position until I was fully dilated – a great example of my body knowing what is right for it when left alone to follow its own guidance.

I started pushing at ~2:35am and started to lose control for a moment with the tremendous forces urging this baby down. My midwife quickly reminded me that this was a big baby and if I didn’t go slow, I could tear. I listened to her and put every effort into relaxing and letting my body move the baby on its own. At this point I was lying back in the tub and Doug was supporting my upper body. As Seamus was moving down, I could feel my hips shift slightly to accommodate him and within 10 minutes he was crowning. He had turned during labour from OP to OA (I had been doing paper remedies of Kali-carb throughout labour to help him turn) and once his head was out, I took a two-minute break while waiting for the next contraction – my midwife said he was rotating his shoulders underneath the public bone during this time. This seemed like a long time for Doug who initially worried about our baby’s head being out under water for such a period of time, but my midwife assured him, that baby was fine and was being given oxygen through his cord. I didn’t want to push anymore at this point (not that I had done a lot, as my body had done most of it without any effort on my part), but my last contraction took over and with one push, Seamus was born at2:50am.

He gave a little cry and quickly settled on my chest. Heated towels were put around him while we relaxed in the tub waiting for the placenta to detach. The cord stopped pulsating after 15 minutes so Doug cut it and my placenta was delivered 15 minutes later (actually I stood up and after the smallest of pushes it fell out). I had no tears from the delivery which was great seeing that he was our biggest baby weighing 8pds, 7 ounces. Seamus was peaceful and alert after the delivery and Doug and I spent the rest of the night/morning relaxing in bed with our new baby (I did a paper remedy of arnica to help me with my recovery).

My recovery was very short as all soreness had left within 24 hours of the birth (I also took birth remedies after the delivery), and all bleeding at stopped 4 days after delivery. I had my placenta encapsulated and started taking the capsules 5 days after birth. Breastfeeding is going well, and I’m feeling great. ~ By Lisa Power

Lisa asked me to point out to you the paper rx written on paper and laying on her chest in the photo above for those of you in the know. <wink>

It would be easy to tout facts such as 80% of sedentary American adults watch 3.5 hours of television a day. I could also describe how 92% of all Americans have a television set in their home which consumes more than half of their available leisure time. These facts are fairly well known.

However, a study done at the National Cancer Institute where 221,000 active individuals between the ages of 40-71 years of age still showed a predisposition to heart disease and cancer where T.V. was a 3-4 hour daily habit. This may not be such common knowledge. Also, did you know that chronic television watching is linked to incidences of diabetes, obesity, influenza/pneumonia, Parkinson’s and liver issues as well?

Now, if I open the pages of Michael J. Lincoln’s book, “Messages From The Body” and review the reasons for a few of these diseases cited above, you might perceive the link to how watching television precipitates the state of mind before the disease manifests on the physical level. Here are excerpts from Lincoln’s book from each section specified:

Cancer – “Powerlessness-rage.” They feel overwhelmed and devastated, with a sense of intense emptiness in their life. There has been many years of inner conflict, guilt, hurt, grief, despair, resentment, confusion and/or tension surrounding their deepest personal issues. It is connected with feelings of hopelessness, inadequacy, helplessness and self-rejection. They see no possibility of relevance or effectiveness from the Cosmic realm. They have disharmonious attitudes towards parts of themselves that they don’t want to deal with.”

Heart Issues – “They are not expressing and manifesting love with others-now and/or before. They operate out of scarcity assumptions and the belief in constricting limitations. They tend to judge themselves a failure and therefore work furiously to accomplish on the job and to dominate others. They are full of tension, anxiety, resentment and suppressed aggression. Underneath, they are frightened children full of regrets, sorrow and remorse for a life wasted and a “vast wasteland” experience. They are the product of highly judgmental and demanding parenting that never gave them the message that they were good enough.

Diabetes – “Boulevard of broken dreams.” They are longing for what might have been in their life, and they are in a state of emotional shock. They have a deep dissatisfaction with their life and an accompanying self-dislike. There is intense sorrow and a sense of starving to death in the midst of plenty, of being surrounded by most of the things that have meaning without their being available to them. They have a great deal of despairing desperation, depression and demoralization. It’s a “. . . but not for me” attitude that is often accompanied by a fair amount of feeling very sorry for themselves. There is no sweetness left in life for them, and there is insufficient joy in their life.

Our predecessor, Rudolf Steiner, was a Goethean scientist who spoke liberally about stages of development in seven year cycles. He cited that when a child is first born, they’re most focused on physical development. It takes a lot of internal, mineral, forces to grow a body from its total dependency on Mom and Dad to be able to first sit, then crawl, run and then at 50-70 pounds at age 7, dribble a basketball with any kind of coordination.

From the ages of 7-14, Steiner speaks to how we are more etherically developing our capacity to receive impressions. This is the time in our development when we’re naturally and resonantly ready to be engaged more with art, story (fairy tales and putting on plays), music, eurythmy (a type of rhythmical, dance-like movement mostly found in Waldorf Schools), creativity (watercolors, drawing, sculpting, etc.), hand-work (knitting for metabolic limb coordination), sport (healthy competition) and fully actuating our imaginal forces through the etheric body.

From 14 to 21 we develop our astral bodies through actualizing our desires, goals, dreams through fantasy and socialization. This is when we experience the onset of puberty and hopefully a healthy unfolding of our sexuality. However, “Waldorf educators saw a direct link to this astral body and the watching of television. The scenes, the lack of imagination involved, and the topics covered on most channels would obviously bring on the astral stage of the body at an early age from the outside in. This was one reason that television was banned from Waldorf schools. Modern researchers, however, have just recently made this connection when they recently announced, “Watching Television may Quicken the Onset of Puberty” (Dr. Laura Markham, 2006).

In Markham’s article, based on 35 different research studies she states that this connection has a lot to do with the hormone melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain, which plays a key role in regulating the body’s internal clock. Light emitted by television screens suppresses melatonin levels in the blood, which disrupts sleep patterns of children and teens as well as the age at which they enter puberty. It is also interesting to note that the problems of early-onset puberty have baffled researchers since 1950. This was the same date in which televisions became widely owned in the United States.”

On one Waldorf school website from Ireland they state, “Television, as well as film, videos, DVDs, recorded music, computers and electronic games have a very powerful effect on children. It can take several days for the effects of a single video to wear off. If children are watching every day, the effects never wear off at all; many children now speak a lot of the time in ‘cartoon’ voices, make ‘sound effects’ to accompany their jerky movements (kicking, punching) and compulsively repeat lines from videos they have seen over and over again. This is now seen as normal childish behavior, but it really comes from these media, not from the children themselves.” I once served an Autistic child who could “script” word for word every Disney movie she’d ever seen!

The other consideration is that we need time in order to process impressions as our thoughts go through a cycle of maturation. Watching television inhibits this natural process. Steiner stated that, “What is learned more slowly at any given age is more surely and healthily absorbed by the organism, than what is crammed into it.” (Spiritual Ground for Education by Rudolf Steiner).

This is also why homework is not promoted in Waldorf education, to give ample time for a child to wholly integrate all of the art, story, plays, music, and movement they were engaged with from the inside out to settle down into their etheric mind (where memory is stored) during the remainder of waking consciousness into the sleep consciousness.

They will wake the next day full of reflections from the day before, having crystallized their impressions into thoughts. Children become sick, first mentally and then physically if this natural rhythm is not allowed for, given that the externalized impressions will override this capacity for thinking. The child’s head, instead, will be filled with images from video games or television. Once again, his own concentration and imagination will have been denied him. He’ll deem that life occurs, out there in T.V. land, not internally in his own world of self-actualized and fructified dreams. The application of a properly threaded Will (male gesture) and Wisdom (female gesture) will be hobbled.

The other problem is that if we’re told at allopathic schools that there is little room for the bubbling up of our internal creativity and that we have to succumb to standardized testing instead, we will begin to feel the light go out on our internal capacity for imagination and freedom of expression. A generalized malaise, and “why bother” attitude starts to show up. It might even lead to suicidal depression in our teens. I know because I serve teens brought to me for Heilkunst Treatment in this state more often than I’d like.

These external dumbing down forces start to spread into the rest of our lives. The why bother gesture begins to permeate everything to the point where a sufferer opts to live externally, watching others live, fulfilling lives through their externalized perpetual fantasies, while the watcher sits on the sidelines and simply watches or controls a gaming console. It becomes a lot less risky to live life on the sidelines physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually if we’ve repeatedly gotten the message that what we’d like to contribute is not wholly valued.

I serve so many of these checked out children and adults, that it is astounding. It is an Aurum (homeopathic rx for the loss of one’s inner gold) state, in which they’ve forgotten their inner value. They’re not connected to their true heart’s desire (heart disease) and their lives feel profoundly un-lived (cancer). In many cases, they don’t even know what they’d like to be anymore, either in the present, or later on when they grow up, as they’ve not even thought to ask themselves this question anymore. They’re utterly resigned. T.V. perpetuates dissociation, escapism, a disengaged onlooker society. The video game and pornography industry is also counting on this physical, mental and emotional inertia of the watcher on the living room couch with his bag of cookies or chips.

Onlookers over time are numb, shut-down and not very resourceful. Perfect if the government, in cahoots with Big Pharma, want to be passing bills for mandatory vaccinations through congress without folks knowing or caring. No, you won’t see that on CNN or allopathic news. That content is only peppered liberally through my personal Twitter stream where my ire is completely provoked to write books and articles about this insidious phenomenon. #vaxxed #cdcwhistleblower Sometimes I actually wonder if there is still anybody out there?!

In Heilkunst Medicine, we also discuss at length a Chthonic, fear-induced state entitled Bufo. In nature, Bufo Rana is a big, meaty, overgrown toad with big slobbery lips and a quick tongue. He sits for hours, unmoving, staring at a fixed point in his environment, barely blinking waiting for a juicy fly to pass by, otherwise he is sedentary, conserving his cold reptilian energy, seemingly unaffected by his ambient. In the human disease state, you’ll observe these characteristics in addition to symptoms of lasciviousness, lewdness, lustfulness, and wantonness. They’re almost drooling as they can’t wait to get home to watch pornography and attempt self-gratification in the basest of ways in private. I’ve served many modern men, and women too, in chronic Bufo states.

I’ve also known two men in my life who were chronic T.V. watchers. One of them watched the news on a popular station from sun-up to sundown. He also developed a tumor the size of a grapefruit in his gut, breaking one of his ribs. He never knew it was there until Doctors noticed it while examining him for a hernia.

A second individual I know retired some years ago and watches a variety of sitcoms, news and documentaries day in and day out. He leaves his house on a very limited basis, living mostly in fear of the outside world. He takes a variety of drugs for depression and anxiety. His pallor is ashen. I can’t help but wonder if his chronic television watching is contributing to his problems.

I also serve individuals who have chronic problems with memory. They have difficulty recalling where they put their keys, issues with dates, times, people’s names, etc. Again, it would be interesting to wean them from television, in addition to Heilkunst Treatment, and see if their etheric memory increases.

As you can see, television is a toxic, mind-numbing and disease inducing machine. It infects you and your family with its agenda, which represents less than 1% of reality. If you travel the real world, as I do, you’ll realize that 99% of the population is so loving, helpful and compassionate, perhaps you too will forget the violence and fear proffered by television.

I’ve not had television in my midst for over twenty years for the precise reasons that I’ve illustrated above. Living without it means that I get to live my own creative, thought-provoking and imaginative life, full of juicy impressions and healthy desires. I’m a photographer, an artist, a romantic scientist and a philosopher. I get to write books, serve patients and compose blog articles based on my own generative impressions, fully taking the time to ruminate upon ideas as they crystallize into articles. I love my over-the-moon fulfilling life and I feel that T.V. would only detract from desire to know myself and others in a deep and meaningful way.

Image shared in Instagram by “Berry Sprouts” where you can also find us at “Arcanum Wholistic Clinic”

It’s actually funny if you think about it, in the 50s and 60s we were given the image that so much of our lives would become automated that we’d all be sitting around reading magazines and nibbling on bonbons. Well, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Given that the patriarchal powers-that-be rigged a bra burning movement, and then a debt-based economy, we’ve now got both men and women stressed to the teeth. I recall also living this way, serving the corporate machine, afraid one day that we’d both miss picking up our son on time from daycare.

It was a five day rat race and then the weekends were dedicated to cleaning a home that we barely lived in during the week, that we were mortgaged to the hilt for for the next 25 years. It was so demoralizing.

I blew my adrenals, suffered chronic fatigue, was in bed for several days every month barely able to cope on so many levels. If you got in the way of my chocolate habit, after the kids were in bed, I can’t say I’d treat you with any remotely ethical grace.

I was exhausted and it’s true that I hated my life. I felt broken physically, mentally, and emotionally by the up hill struggle of trying to slap band-aids on the elephant’s ass that I called my life. I never had the feeling that I could take anytime to do anything well. I didn’t even know what self-care meant!

After trying to solve my son’s autism spectrum issues, I had a complete, well orchestrated, nervous break-down. I quit my ridiculously high paying consulting job and came home to write poetry for several months. My husband just about lost his elephant sized #$%^ over that escapade. I told him that I was between contracts.

I modified the whole kitchen to knock out the carbs., grains, and refined sugars. Anything white and non-organic went into the garbage. I had just started Heilkunst treatment and within those first few months, my inner value began creeping up a couple of nefarious notches.

I started following Dr. Abravanel’s lifetime nutrition plan to help solve my glandular stress and heal my hormonal expressions that turned my Ms. Hyde into the worse Dr. Jekyll before my menses every month. It was quite the over-haul for which I’ve never gone back to my wicked ways. That was over 18 years ago now.

As a result, for this month’s newsletter, we’re going to focus our blog posts on both hormonal and glandular typology. Our hope is that if you’re as stressed out as I once was that it will be the pieces to help you get on the road to recovery.

This afternoon, after writing all morning, I rolled over on my towel at the beach while the Caribbean Sea ebbed its lacy tide at the shore near my feet. I can’t believe that Heilkunst was so instrumental in taking me from what felt like hell on earth to now what feels like heaven. I now feel so very blessed.

Our Warmest,

Ally and Jeff

(Excerpted from May 2016 Newsletter)

P.S. To find out more about our hormonal and nutrition protocols and much more, click on the link below to receive a copy of our monthly newsletter:

If you really set out to study the principles of Vitamin K, you realize that it actually is not a blood coagulant in and of itself. While it can be a catalyst to promoting healthy blood clotting, there are other factors also at play that prevent our brains from bleeding out our ears.

As Mommypotamus Blogger writes, ““K” IS FOR KOAGULATION!

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin that derives it’s name from the German word “koagulation.” As you’ve probably guessed, that’s because it’s essential for helping blood clot appropriately when needed.

Vitamin K is important aspect in any human being’s diet, including, the pregnant mother but so is Vitamin C, B, D, E and Iron. A deficiency, though, in Vitamin K as per Dr. Mercola can show up more specifically as:

Early onset: Within the first day of life. Early VKDB is exceedingly rare, and is typically related to medicines used by the mother that inhibit vitamin K activity

Classic: Within the first week of life. This is the most common form, occurring in 0.25-1.5 percent of infants who have not received vitamin K at birth

Late onset: From the second week of life up to six months of age. Occurs in 5-7 out of every 100,000 infants not given prophylactic vitamin K, and is indicative of inadequate intake of vitamin K, malabsorption issues, and/or impaired utilization due to an underlying liver disorder

We believe that there are safer, non-invasive and more effective ways to preventing VKDB in an infant. With any supplement, it is important to note that we are all individuals, “Little Maverick” may not need the same amount of vitamin K as “Little Meadow.” The amount injected at birth by the allopaths is twenty thousand (20,000) times more than what the newborn’s typical levels are!

You might want to read that last line again. The paradox continues as conventional medicine constantly warns against the toxic effect of megadosing with synthetic vitamins and yet, it is conferring precisely what it preaches against on a babe just hours old in it’s most fragile state of being.

Another thing that isn’t mentioned, unless you read the package insert on the vaccine, is that the Vitamin K shot contains aluminum. You probably know that aluminum is a known neurotoxin linked to Alzheimer’s, Autism and very severe gut dysbiosis including constipation. You can also add to this toxic cocktail a heavy load of preservatives such as polysorbate 80 (aka Tween 80 with it’s estrogen effects that keeps a population sweet, subdued and emasculated) and propylene glycol which you can also use to fill your car with window washer fluid as it is the same thing.

In fact, my own son Jordan, was hospitalized 7 times for chronic constipation so severe that he was given dozens of milk and molasses enemas and even once put under general anesthetic for impacted stool so severe, they had to dig it out of him manually. He screamed with severe gut pains for 4.5 years, would not eat, with significant black circles under his eyes and a profoundly distended gut. The head of gastroenterology at the Children’s Hospital suggested putting him on Lansoyl, a stool softener, “as some boys just seem to suffer like this.” I invited him to come and live our nightmare in our home for a week.

Aluminum poisoning as it relates to constipation appears like this:

Hard, infrequent and scanty stool with obstruction of the abdomen. The pain is up higher in the intestines and when the stool is finally emitted, it is covered in mucus/slimy matter and looks like small stems of pipe. The person will generally continue to suffer cramping and discomfort even while emitting the stool.

As explained by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, the introduction of toxins in combination with poor gut flora (which is a problem that affects a great number of infants born these days) can lead to developmental problems. It doesn’t matter where these toxins come from—ideally, you’d want to avoid exposing your infant to any.

It is important to note that infants naturally and universally are born with low levels of vitamin K in their bodies. Isn’t it right to assume that “The Wisdom” (with a capital “W”) buried innately in us, the most profoundly advanced organism on the planet, might just be intended to arrive this way? We don’t seem to be short on any other luggage when we arrive at the gate of birth!

The truth is that we don’t wholly know. But is that grounds for shoving a needle into a baby’s foot and administering a substance not know for it’s efficacy with 20,000 more units than God himself put under our manifold?! Especially when the odds are so low that VKDB could happen to your child and that healthy sources of Vitamin K can safely be provided to Mom during pregnancy.

Those at risk of Vitamin K Deficiency as per “Mommypotamus” are thought to be:

Breastfeeding Moms – More on this below.

Those on Medications during pregnancy, Including Antibiotics – As mentioned above in the section on early VKDB, “Antibiotics, particularly a class known as cephalosporins, reduce the absorption of vitamin K in the body. Long-term use (more than 10 days) of antibiotics may result in vitamin K deficiency because these drugs kill not only harmful bacteria but also beneficial, vitamin K-activating bacteria. This is most likely to occur in people who already have low levels of vitamin K or are at risk for deficiency (such as those who are malnourished, elderly, or taking warfarin). Other medications can also interfere with Vitamin K’s capacity to help the process of coagulation.

Other factors are preterm delivery, low birth weight, and possibly traumatic delivery. Antibiotics given to a newborn may also affect their ability to generate Vitamin K2 within their digestive tract.

Dr. Mercola cites that Synthetic Vitamin K Injection Is Not Risk-Free as Claimed:

“As noted in a 2001 article in Pediatric Pharmacotherapy, the standard practice in the US is to administer an intra-muscular injection of 0.5-1 milligram (mg) of phytonadione within one hour of birth. Phytonadione is a fat-soluble synthetic vitamin K1 analog.

Ironically, the phytonadione drug insert warns that it can cause severe, sometimes fatal, allergic reactions when injected into a muscle or vein, and is ideally taken by mouth or injected under the skin. Signs of an allergic reaction include hives, trouble breathing, swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat.

One recent PLOS ONE study looking into this issue found that allergic reactions appear to be linked to the preservatives in the vitamin K1 injection:

“[S]erious anaphylaxis-like symptoms appeared in beagle dogs after the administration of vitamin K1 injection for the first time. The plasma histamine concentration increased, and blood pressure decreased sharply. After sensitization, dogs were challenged with vitamin K1 injection and displayed the same degree of symptoms as prior to sensitization. However, when the vitamin K1 injection-sensitized dogs were challenged with a vitamin K1-fat emulsion without solubilizers such as Tween-80, the abnormal reactions did not occur…

Our results indicate that the adverse reaction induced by vitamin K1 injection is an anaphylactoid reaction, not anaphylaxis. Vitamin K1 injection induces the release of inflammatory factors via a non-IgE-mediated immune pathway, for which the trigger may be the solubilizer.”

Even more ironic, pregnant women are warned that it is not known whether taking phytonadione might harm their baby if taken during pregnancy or while breast feeding. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for infants 0-6 months is 2 micrograms (mcg) per day, so they are receiving a dose that is 5,000 times the RDA.

The RDA for adult women is 90 mcg/day. If you’re an adult suffering minor bleeding due to warfarin use, a one-time dose of 2.5-5 mg is recommended. If an adult overdoses on phytonadione, they’re advised to call Poison Control. And yet newborn babies are given a 1 mg injection whether they in need of it or not. This is a highly irrational approach anyway you look at it. It’s simply not supported by the science in any way shape or form.”

So why is it cited that Mom’s who breastfeed may be at higher risk for Vitamin K deficiency? Mommypotamus does a great job describing why this is:

“But WHY is breast milk low in Vitamin K, and is this true for ALL women?

Ahhh, that’s where things get interesting. When Dr. Weston A. Price studied the diets of traditional cultures, he discovered what he called “Activator X,” which was found in the special foods “given to pregnant and lactating women, as well as to the maturing boys and girls, in preparation for future parenthood. Dr. Price found these foods to be very rich in fat soluble vitamins A, vitamin D and Activator X —nutrients found only in animal fats.” After 60+ years of searching, it was discovered that “Activator X” is Vitamin K2.

Interestingly, “When Dr. Price analyzed the foods used by isolated primitive peoples he found that they provided at least four times the calcium and other minerals, and at least TEN times the fat-soluble vitamins from animal foods such as butter, fish eggs, shellfish and organ meats.” In other words, their Vitamin K intake was probably at least ten times higher than ours. Given how much the modern diet has eroded, it’s probably more now.

Why did these cultures emphasize dietary K2 during pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and breastfeeding? There are probably a lot of reasons, but one of them may have been its effect on VKDB.

How can you up your natural sources of Vitamin K? Eat a varied, organic, whole and 80% raw diet making sure that you get lots of good fats that are resonant to you blood type (See Dr. D’Adamo’s Book, “Eat Right For Your Type”) and eat lots of greens. Here’s a list of vegetables and fruits that are high in Vitamin K as per “Healthalisciousness” by percentage per tablespoon:

So even before you conceive that brand new baby of yours, do your due diligence on issues of vaccination. It is critical that you are properly apprised of the risks and that you prepare your body to carry and deliver a baby as health as she/he can be. Your decisions, now, can affect the health of another human being for the whole of their lives.

“The main reason I ferment foods is for the transfer of information. Beneficial bacteria are prokariotic cells with free floating DNA. The cells that make up our bodies are eukariotic cells with a nucleus that holds the DNA. When one prok. cell bumps up to another one, info is shared. So, all the bacteria outside our bodies is gathering and sharing information. Then when one ingests those knowledge gathering, pre-digesting, bacteria via kraut, kimchi, etc…a few make it to the bacteria in our guts, and share info, which our bacteria shares with our body…giving our immune system the knowledge to fend off the common cold, influenza and much more. So, get informed. Eat local ferments! Now!!!” ~ Wakan Zion Burrows, From the Facebook Page Wild Fermentation

I’m a big fermenter. I’ve been fermenting my foods for years. I ferment raw milk into kefir, make kombucha, water kefir, sauerkraut, pickles and any bumper crop that I want to preserve like onions, garlic, carrots or just about anything else that I want to turn into a fizzy probiotic powerhouse. Dr. Mercola recently sent off some homemade sauerkraut to the lab and was blown away by the results. You can read more about the Sauerkraut Test or watch his video interview with Sandor Katz, fermenting guru by following the links.

If you’re too shy to ask why you should ferment, I’m going to tell you. Most foods at the grocery store, especially commercial yogourts are full of gel-like thickeners and harbour much fewer acidopholous and bifididus than your refrigerated probiotic … by a lot! Also, how much healthy, raw, alive foods and probiotic rich foods do you eat on a daily basis? Come on, at least whisper the truth to yourself.

I think of fermentation this way. Every winter, a farmer’s field remains fallow. She will also consider that the crop of the prior year has consumed much of the nutrients in the soil and so the microbiota needs to be re-introduced to the soil. In the spring, the farmer will reintroduce good bacteria by spraying her fields with manure. You only need a little bit to create a positive infectious growth of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium so that the harvest will yield a plentiful crop full of nutrition.

“Pickled Vegetables” by ccarlstead https://flic.kr/p/CTNMm

Our human organisms come from nature and we can become ill if we’re not loading our organisms with positive bacteria every day. If you’ve had a history of antibiotics, chemmo, radiation, c-difficile infections, yeast, thrush, long term exposure to junk food or cooked food you are a good candidate for fermented foods. Dead foods will create a depleted immune function laying you open as prey to infections and diseases. The truth is you are an extension of the health of your gut, it is that critical.

Make your Digestion and Bowel Movements Phenomenal: Fermented foods are loaded with enzymes and probiotics which provides your body with great additional tools to help break down and efficiently process your food making much less work for body to synthesize. Also when your body has all the resources she needs, she’s not clamouring for foods rich in life forces from other sources. Cravings will be less too! Weight loss easier! Patients have reported to me after introducing more fermented foods in their diet how wonderful, complete and fulfilling their elimination has become. That is a big bonus to your health. Better out than in!

Improve your Immune Function: Eating more fermented foods is kind of like bolstering the allies in your gut. A little shot of sauerkraut juice or kombucha can work wonders giving you that added edge to a histamine response, decreasing allergic responses to stimuli. It can also be the deciding factor whether not you contract a virus or bacterial infection as your arsenal of health will be wholly supplemented with the sentinels easily recognized by your body. Learn more about coming back from health challenges by using great recipes for fermenting with Donna Schwenk here.

Positive Bacteria Makes Foods Taste Wildly Good: Human beings have been fermenting foods for hundreds of years out of necessity as a means to preserve foods simply for survival. In addition, there is nothing like a couple of tablespoons of fermented onion, garlic or sauerkraut to enliven a plate with texture, fizz, and a sparkly wake-up for your taste buds. Did you know that travellers on the silk road in China used to carry kombucha with them as a source of preserved nutrition? Also beer and spirits are also ferments, however the sugar content and alcohol can create more deleterious effects on your health than positive ones. Follow the Facebook page, Wild Fermentation, to learn more about the foods you can ferment.

Causing Less Harm to Your Environment: So picture this … I go to my local market. Pick out the most gorgeous cabbage. Come home and shave it off with my knife, or slicer, add a little red onion and some garlic and mix it up. Next I jam it liberally into a couple of 750 ml jars that I’d bought organic spaghetti sauce in and then pour a simple brine of one tablespoon of sea, or kosher, salt dissolved into pure spring or well water. For the next 3-4 days, when I get up in the morning, I burp the jars by opening the lids to let out the excess C02 that off-gassed during the fermenting process overnight. Sometimes I have to add a bit more water due to the absorption process. Consider that I’ve not used any excess packaging, produced consumer waste or employed any petrochemicals or even electricity. Actually I’ve even recycled a couple of jars!

Saving Time and Money: If you review my simple recipe for ‘kraut above, each jar of fermented food costs just a dollar or two if that! I’ve also added a whole lot of cost saving convenience by investing in my future health and eliminating the need to buy pricey probiotics. Also, it doesn’t cost a cent to store your ferments in a cool dark place. When you’re ready, just open the jar, or bottle, and enjoy! It’s the cheapest, best and richest food that just keeps on giving.

Enrich Your Relationships: Do you ever get invited to a friend’s house and don’t have a clue what to bring as a gift? A bottle of fermented garlic or kefir would be a very welcome gift in my home and you could be helping family member or friend enrich their health. You’ll exhibit a burgeoning knowledge and time honoured tradition that is making a big reappearance in our culture (pun intended). Fermenting builds community through it’s life giving properties. What if that sip of kraut brine could bolster the health of another human being?

Make Your Food Season Last Longer: Ever faced with a bumper crop from your garden or famers market? It doesn’t take much to chop up those veggies and tamp them down into jars. I buy a plethora of pickling cukes, dill, garlic and pickling spices every year in August, jam them into jars and pour in the salt brine. It makes them last right through winter when I crave a bite of stored up summer out of a jar.

Become a Fermenting Hobbyist: I know lots of folks who love fermenting so much that they start to accumulate the gear associated with fermenting. From crock pots, to self burping lids to even using the nipples from baby bottles to allow for off-gassing. We’re all searching for the best way to make our jobs in the kitchen lighter and easier and fermenting is a brilliant way of investing in our health with little time or money. I make the black tea and organic sugar for my booch (Komubucha) in a large stainless steel pot, let it cool and then pour it into my scoby housed glass jar with the pour spigot at the bottom. This is ideal until the spigot gets clogged with booch debris. Sigh! More research to be done.

Experimenting with New Flavours: Probably one of the most fun things you can engage with is as fermenter is how long to leave a ferment to ferment! I’m not crazy about a vinegar-like taste which is interesting as most commercial pickles and sauerkraut are made with vinegar. I prefer most of my ferments within a few days of their making which means that I’m quite often stuffing some vegetable in a jar and pouring salt brine over them as we go through them so quickly. My husband likes our ferments more spicey and fizzy than I do which means that his homemade Kimchisits a good while before consuming. Yee haw!

“Kimchi – Let’s Bap” by Alpha https://flic.kr/p/7D9bpi

Learning New Things: I was 45 years of age before I learned how to ferment. I took a couple hour course from the gal from Nova Scotia at Farmpunk at that time and I’ve been going strong for the last 8 years. Right now we’re living in Mexico and I needed no gear in my single suitcase to bring along to continue fermenting weekly. Also, probiotics are just not sold here in the Yucatan and so I was quick to get my krauts in their jars. Also, I ferment because I love playing with tastes, textures and new techniques for working with my beloved health-giving foods. Yes, I’ve botched some ketchup that I won’t soon forget so go ahead and play, if it smells off, don’t eat it! Just last night, however, I stirred my sauerkraut into my Greek salad. Boy did it suddenly come alive … also, so good with ground meats like lamb or turkey. Yum!

Enjoy playing with this rejuvenating way of being in relationship with your food. I often say that the body maintains a fine line between building up more life or participating in more breaking down. Why not load the side of your resources in goodness, not just sustaining your health but bringing more life, renewal and a resurgence to your foods and cooking. Also, here’s 20 ways to get your kids to eat more fermented foods here. Happy fermenting!

Note of Caution:

I would also recommend that you start with very small amounts of fermented foods, even just a teaspoon, depending on whether or not you’ve been ill or eating primarily cooked or processed foods. You will go through a bit of a die-off period as the probiotics and enzymes gain purchase in your gut, helping to eliminate colonies of bad bacteria and islets of negative organization. Watch for loose stools and rank urine, pulling back with the amount of ferment you indulge in until your body stabilizes.